Sermon Notes - John 2:1-12 - Littleby Baptist Church - September 25, 2022

1.     In the Gospel of John, the focus has been about Jesus being the Word, being God.

a.      The author, John, was emphasizing the divine aspects of our Jesus.

b.     Existence since before time.

c.      His being the giver of life and being the Light.

d.     The fact that it prophesized that John the Baptist was going to come before Jesus.

e.      To point people to Jesus in hopes of them repenting and turning to Christ.

f.      All to emphasize that Jesus is more than a man, more than a good speaker, or a prophet.

g.     He is God.

2.     As we start chapter 2, we are going to see the first sign or miracle that John wanted us to hear about.

a.      John continues to emphasize that Jesus the man is also fully God.

b.     There are 35 recorded miracles that Jesus used His divine power.

c.      Turning water to wine is the first of them.

d.     Could there have been more, very likely.

e.      Could there have been some before this one, yes.

f.      But this one is recorded at the earliest point of Jesus’ ministry when compared to the other 34.

3.     Jesus’s first sign of turning water into wine is only found in the Gospel of John.

a.      The Gospel of John is not necessarily in chronological order, but since these events take place before Jesus’ ministry really got started it is fairly safe to say that it is the first of the 35.

b.     At this point in the Gospel, we know Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, and John are with Jesus, there are no other Apostles mentioned.

c.      Speculation is that they were not there, this was before they were called.

4.     Another interesting tidbit about John and his recording of what we call Jesus’ miracles is that he calls them signs.

a.      A miracle is an extraordinary event.

b.     When a miracle is done, the focus tends to be on that miraculous event.

c.      Something magnificent has happened and we want to tell everyone about it.

d.     John is making a point by calling them signs.

e.      The miracle or sign is not meant to be the focus.

f.      The focus is to stay where it belongs.

g.     The miracles are magnificent, something happened that impacted people probably more than we can comprehend.

h.     But the important part for John is that each one of them are signs that emphasize that Jesus is God.

i.       He is trying to make sure that people understand that the Jesus they saw, heard, or heard about is more than a man, He is God incarnate.

5.     John 2:1-2

a.      Third day… potentially meaning 3 days after Nathanael joined Jesus and the others.

b.     Reinforces that these were the early days of His ministry.

c.      Technically, this is before His earthly ministry really began.

6.     John 2:3

a.      Traditional wedding feasts in this part of the world during this time tended to last seven days.

b.     Running out of food or wine during this celebration would reflect poorly on the family.

c.      With Mary and Jesus being there, several days away from home, chances are they had some vested interest in the wedding.

d.     Scripture does not give us any hints as why, but Mary would likely not be too worried about it if they were neighborhood guests.

e.      An educated guess would be that this is some form of extended family or close friends.

7.     John 2:4

a.      A couple of translations try to soften how this sounds to us, by saying ‘Dear woman.’

b.     The wording may seem a bit harsh to us, but the words used were a term of endearment.

c.      A kind and polite expression.

d.     This verse also points out that Jesus’ ministry had not yet started, “my hour has not yet come.”

e.      It was not time for who He was to become fully known.

8.     John 2:5

a.      Some speculate that Mary knew that Jesus could perform miracles and was in a round about way asking Him to do something.

                                                    i.     In all honesty I was in this camp, but not sure what I based it on as scripture is not clear.  

b.     Others believe that Mary was simply putting her trust in her son Jesus not knowing what to expect.

c.      Either way, Mary took her problem and trusted in Jesus to take care of it.

d.     Now I am not putting Mary up on a pedestal at all, but this is a great example for us.

e.      We know that Jesus is so much more than we can ever imagine.

f.      We know that He is our Lord and Savior.

g.     We know that He is capable of things we cannot comprehend.

h.     But if we are honest with ourselves, we struggle to lay things at His feet.

i.       If we cannot see the outcome or not sure how Jesus is going to respond, we do the best to muscle through it ourselves.

j.       What we need to do is to learn to trust in Jesus.

k.     Trust that He is our refuge.

l.       Trust in His love for us.

m.   Trust in what He is doing in our lives.

n.     Scripture gives us no reason to believe that Mary expected a miracle, but she still put her trust in Jesus.

o.     We may not always see a miracle before eyes, but we need to trust our Jesus.

9.     John 2:6-10

a.      Jesus turned water into wine.

b.     Only Jesus, the servants, and Jesus’ small group of disciples knew what Jesus had done.

c.      This was not some big flashy public miracle.

d.     It was a sign of who Jesus is to a small group of people.

e.      People who needed to believe that Jesus was more than a man.

f.      More than a man that saw Nathanael sitting under a fig tree and talked about his character.

10.  John 2:11-12

a.      Repeat “He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

b.     The first of Jesus’ signs that was recorded was to reveal His Glory!

c.      Nathanael declared faith over something simple and here He saw a sign that Jesus was more than a man.

d.     A sign that the Glory of Christ was made known to those who witnessed it.

e.      Reading that His disciples believed in Him makes sense.

f.      In turning water into wine Jesus:

                                                    i.     Showed His Love for His creation who risked being disgraced.

                                                  ii.     Replaced sorrow with Joy.

                                                iii.     Showed His power as Creator.

g.     In transforming water into wine, He foreshadowed His ministry.

h.     2 Corinthians 5:17

                                                    i.     As we give our lives to Christ we are transformed into a new creation.

11.  The handful of disciples following Jesus on this day, had an idea of who Jesus was. They had proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and the King of Israel… but things were just beginning.

12.  With this sign, they still did not understand how things were going to play out.

13.  The thought of Jesus’ death and resurrection were not even thoughts.

14.  But they witnessed Jesus Power.

15.  Their faith was growing.

16.  As it says in verse 11… “He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

17.  That belief, their faith would be tested, stretched, and it would grow even more.

18.  This was a building block in their faith journey.

19.  As we study the signs recorded in the Gospel of John, it is my prayer that our faith grows.

20.  That we will see that Jesus is more than just a man who died on a cross for us.

21.  That we will see more than miraculous things that were done.

22.  That we will see that each of these signs emphasize that Jesus Christ is God.

23.  I pray that His Glory is revealed to each of us through His words and in our lives as we draw near to Him.